rebuttal

“Anticipatory fear, like anticipatory grief, is real and troubling, but it is not cause enough to demonize the very reasonable protests against the more real and more troubling century-long militarism of Israel against the Palestinian people.” 

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reading week, subversion, and a high school principal who thought it was dumb

Back in the Daily Show days, Jon Stewart would sometimes find himself harassed by audience members who disagreed with his analysis of the news. (Odd they would be in the audience. Had they never watched?)

On those occasions, Stewart would sometimes harass right back: “Read a fucking book!” 

Which I find inspiring.

On the other hand, Florida and other states are turning us back to a time when banning (burning?) books is said to the the most patriotic thing. 

So, then, I find reading whole books to be an act of resistance. 

They come from everywhere, these books I read: reviews in the papers, recommendations from colleagues and friends, things I stumble upon in my other reading. One thing leads to another, you know. 

When COVID raged and folks were stuck, continuing education events were off the table, but I had two weeks of time to use. I set aside one week of this for reading — a reading week! What a luxury! 

When I was a new pastor in Texas in the late 80s, with no budget for continuing ed, but two weeks available, I asked our church council for permission to take a “reading week.” Said the council president: “You mean take an entire week and do nothing but read?” as if that were the most wasteful, ridiculous idea he’d ever heard. The council voted no. The biggest insult — that council president was the principal of the high school in that small town. Yikes. 

Now, I don’t ask so much as I announce. I schedule reading week, as surely as I schedule vacation or worship team meetings. Reading is good for us; it makes me smarter, fills in the parts of my education where there are massive gaps, keeps me up on current social trends and world events, helps me put things in context, and, as a preacher, helps me make new connections between and among scripture and our current realities. Reading more than one book in succession helps me integrate information from various angles and sources, gives me varied perspectives. It makes/helps/allows me to think critically. 

My reading weeks, then, look like this: Choose 6-8 books (I can read about 250-300 words a day on average), find a place with zero interruptions, and read from 9 am to 5 or 6 pm, Monday through Friday. With a tea kettle, pencils (because underlining and jotting in the margins helps me think and remember), and perhaps some snacks, I’m all set. (Yes, I read printed books that I have purchased — sometimes new, sometimes like new. The whole ebook thing doesn’t work for me; if it works for you, cool.) 

I have also taken to reviewing/reporting on these books in a public way. This blog site includes a section for book reviews, which I hope helps others ponder the things I’m pondering (and lets my congregation feel good about the time I’m using). So, this reading week, I read Monday-Thursday, and spent Friday writing. (I also now have three new books in my cart at thriftbooks — things I decided I wanted to know more about as I read through the five that made this week’s cut.) 

Today, then, on the heels of a reading week, I’ve posted 5 new reviews: on LBJ’s presidency, racial history in America, the criminal justice system, and a parable about socialism. Amazing how they all speak to each other, and even the old ones seem ever new. 

You can find those reviews here. I hope my reading feeds you in some ways. If I could encourage you to do the same, I’d be happy to read your reviews, reflections and recommendations, as well. 

Either way, “read a … book!” It is, perhaps above all, an act of resistance. 

reclaiming christianity.

Fascism, we know, is a hard right political orientation. It is led by an autocrat ruling in a totalitarian way, and using the tools of capitalism, militarism (including militarized law enforcement) and racism to have its way, to do its evil bidding.

And this is where I pause to remind us of the Jesus agenda: a world where everyone has enough, of non-violence and anti-occupation, of welcoming strangers and embracing those who are different. The exact opposite of fascism in every way.

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enduring pandemic, being community

It’s Friday, I’m at my desk trying to finish tasks that linger from the week. I need to write a sermon and I’m hungry. Plus, Hunter, our administrative assistant, needs an essay for the church newsletter. I’m not gripe-y, just struggling to focus.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s been a very good week. … And yet I struggle to focus. Because there is still a pandemic...

We are all struggling, and my news feed is filled with questions or suggestions for coping.

So, among all the therapy and self-care ideas that are getting passed around, one seemed to strike a chord with me. The question, from my dear friend Khalilah, the social worker and community organizer, was this: How do we train therapists to work with people are depressed/upset/unnerved because of conditions of the world as opposed to their personal experiences?

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church should talk. merry christmas.

Last month, I wrote an essay about Trump’s intentions of ruining American political life for a couple of generations. I spoke of it in the context of a parable Jesus told about a man who was about to get fired and spent his last days setting himself up in the private sector. Because nothing gets you through termination better than well-connected friends who owe you favors — or 70 million voters who can’t quit chanting your name.

I wrote about the ways we in America have overlooked the criminal or treasonous behaviors of past leaders, and reflected on the ways that our overlooking has contributed to the current mess that we’re in — specifically, i noted the preponderance of confederate flags and overtly racist institutions that are a direct outcome of our too-quick forgiveness of, and re-admittance to the Union of, secessionists. (Full disclosure: I am a native of South Carolina, raised on secessionist pride.)

This is not a new rant for me, but last month I wrote it down. I published it here on my blog and in a church newsletter, which, honest to God, I wasn’t sure if anyone ever read.

Turns out, some people read it…

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trump and the new lost cause

There is a parable Jesus told of a manager who was about to get fired from his oversight of a wealthy estate. He spent his “lame duck” period cooking the accounts, lowering the debts of folks who owed money to his about-to-be-former boss. We generally see this as his attempt to ease his post-employment life, “so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes,” he said, wanting to ensure he had something — someone — to fall back on.

“What shall I do?” he had asked himself, when getting fired became apparent; “I am too old to dig and too proud to beg.”

The lesson the gospel writer appends to the story is that you should “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth.”

This is an incredibly unsatisfying parable, all the more unsatisfying because we’re seeing its frightening reciprocity playing out before our eyes.

Donald Trump, soon-to-be-former President Trump, is trying to figure out what his life will be like after the presidency. “Elder Statesman" is definitely out. Speculation is that all of his refusal to concede and his 40 or so lawsuits challenging the election outcome are just ways of buying time, keeping his supporters on his side. The GOP leadership is playing his game because they are determined that his supporters continue to be on their side too. They are bound, much as the boss was bound in the parable, by public opinion as they perceive it.

This would be all well and good if it were only a neat sermon illustration. But it is far more than that, and far more vile…

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